Looking more closely, we see that the patch always starts with the name of the changed file relatiive to the Joomla! root. In this case it is the file gmail.php in the plugins/authenticaion folder.

Next we see the file named again in two lines. The number in the first line represents the version of the code base or build on which the patch was created, The working copy is the copy that is changed. What do I mean by build? Every time a change is made to he codebase, that creates a new revision or build. You can find your build number in the changelog.php file in your joomla! root.

Next comes @@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ which tells us that the change will starton line 87 of the file.

Finally we see the code. The old line 87 has a – in front of it and the new line 87 has a +. The new version of the line will replace the old line in the file. Of course most patches are much more complex than this, but they really just are repeated instances of this structure.

So if you saw this patch file and wanted to fix your version of Joomla! all you would need to do is find line 87 of gmail.php and make that change. So if someone tells you “There's a patch on the tracker” what they are saying is that you can go download the patch and apply it to your version of Joomla!. However one thing to keep in mind is that if your version does not match the version in the code repository it is possible that that patch will not work because it depends on or impacts other parts of the code.

Now, if you're contributing a bug fix as opposed to just reporting an issue, the ideal is to submit a patch file that you have tested. However, if you can't do that, at least give this information:

The complete names and paths of any files changed The line numbers of the changes The old and new versions of the changed lines

However, making a patch file is even better and is not complicated if you install a subversion client such as Tortoise or the Subclipse plugin for Eclipse.